Tuesday, 3 June 2008

Israel's Supreme Court Chides Government for Ban on Study Abroad

CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATIONTuesday, June 3, 2008

By MATTHEW KALMAN

Jerusalem

Israel's Supreme Court joined a chorus of dismay over an Israeli armypolicy that bans Palestinian students from leaving Gaza to studyabroad and asked the government on Monday to "reconsider the policy."Israel imposed the ban after the Islamist group Hamas took control ofthe Gaza Strip in a violent uprising last year.

Supreme Court Justice Elyakim Rubinstein told Israel's state attorneyat a hearing that the ban seems "no less harmful to the Israeliinterest because we have to live with the Palestinians in the future,too." Mr. Rubinstein said that denying Palestinians access toeducation "harms chances for some kind of coexistence."

Mr. Rubinstein demanded a response from the government lawyers withintwo weeks and strongly hinted that he expected them to modify the ban.

Israel's Supreme Court has often taken a tough line on human-rightsabuses by Israel's security branches, pushing them to modify theirbehavior and overruling them when they fail to act on their ownaccord.

After the hearing, an Israeli government spokesman told The Chroniclethat the entire policy on student mobility was now under review.

Unable to Leave Gaza

The judge was considering a petition brought by Gisha, an Israelihuman-rights group that campaigns for academic freedom of movement, onbehalf of two Palestinian students from Gaza who have been preventedfrom taking their places at colleges in Britain and Germany.

Coincidentally, the hearing was held the day after the Israeligovernment apparently reversed an earlier decision not to allow sevenFulbright scholars to leave Gaza. Israel's earlier stance had promptedthe U.S. State Department last week to suspend the scholarships (TheChronicle, June 2).

After the intervention of senior State Department officials and apublic dressing-down by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Israeliauthorities agreed to process the Fulbright scholars' applications,the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem informed the students onSunday.

But, according to Gisha, several hundred more Palestinian studentshave been refused permission to leave for foreign study under ablanket ban imposed by Israel on any Palestinian's leaving the GazaStrip except for urgent humanitarian cases.

Monday's petition was filed on behalf of two of those students, WissamAbuajwa, 31, who has a full scholarship for a master's program inenvironmental science at Nottingham University, in Britain, and NibalNayef, 27, who has a full scholarship for a doctoral program incomputer engineering at the Technical University of Kaiserslautern, inGermany. Neither course of study is available in Gaza.

"Universities in Gaza don't have a track for environmental studies,and my dream is to return from my studies abroad and to establish anenvironmental-research and study institute here," Mr. Abuajwa said ina written statement. "In Gaza there is an urgent need forenvironmental experts, especially because of the recent deteriorationin the infrastructure and quality of life of the residents."

Ms. Nayef said that even if Israel allowed her to leave in two weeks'time, she would arrive in Germany already behind in her studies.

"My classes have already begun while I'm still stuck here in Gaza,unable to attend them. It's so important to me to reach my studies assoon as possible," she said in a written statement.

Growing Criticism

Last Wednesday the Knesset Education Committee heard testimony from an18-year-old Palestinian student who was banned from leaving Gaza tostudy engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Rabbi Michael Melchior, chairperson of the legislative committee,described the travel ban as "immoral and unwise."

The mounting criticism appears finally to be having some effect.

"Clearly it would be a problem if we only grant permission to theFulbright students," Peter Lerner, spokesman for the coordinator ofIsraeli activities in the occupied territories, said on Monday. "Areview is currently under way regarding the entire issue at themoment. We will be informing the court of any decision in two weeks,as requested today."

Sari Bashi, director of Gisha, said she hoped the increasing pressureon the Israeli authorities would finally move them to change theirpolicy.

"The ban on students leaving Gaza for study abroad is part of a policyof closure and collective punishment that is trapping 1.5-millioncivilians," she said. "I hope that the Defense Ministry will listen tothe reasoned voices of the U.S. secretary of state, the KnessetEducation Committee, and the Supreme Court—and allow Palestinians inGaza to exercise their right to freedom of movement and to accesseducation."

Gaza, 2003

Reporting from Jerusalem

Matthew Kalman is the former editor in chief of THE JERUSALEM REPORT and a sought-after media commentator and public speaker. A correspondent and filmmaker based in Jerusalem since 1998, he has reported for TIME, Newsweek, the Boston Globe, London Sunday Times, USA Today, Toronto Globe & Mail, San Francisco Chronicle, New York Daily News, the Chronicle of Higher Education and the London Daily Mail.His television reporting includes PBS in the United States, Channel 4 News UK and CTV in Canada. He is a frequent contributor to radio news programmes in Canada and Britain.Matthew graduated from Cambridge University in 1983. He has an MA (Cantab) in History.He co-directed the documentary Circumcise Me: The Comedy of Yisrael Campbell which has been selected for dozens of film festivals and events across the US, Canada, Australia and Britain.Matthew can be reached at matthewkalman@gmail.com